Fish waste, uneaten food and decaying plant matter can build up in your tank's gravel and lead to ammonia spikes that make your fish sick. If left to decay for too long, this will throw off its water chemistry, foul its environment and trigger ammonia spikes - potentially poisonous for your aquatic friends!
Regular cleanings of your aquarium's substrate help remove solid waste before they contaminate the water, as there are various methods available for doing this task.
Vacuuming
Gravel and sand substrates offer perfect hiding places for fish waste, food scraps, and debris that would otherwise accumulate on top. Unfortunately, their large particle sizes make them difficult to dislodge by water flow or siphons during aquarium maintenance, trapping items under them that make cleaning more complex. If your aquarium features either gravel or sand substrate, using a gravel vacuum is often easier than manually sorting through its contents with your hand.
To ensure a thorough cleaning, begin by placing a bucket beneath the gravel vacuum's plastic hose to collect any dirty water that seeps through. Submerge the vacuum head in the tank and allow it to fill with water; once full, take it out but do not let the head go completely empty before submerging back in again as soon as it stops sucking, to resume siphoning.
Repeat this process until all the dirty aquarium water has been collected in a bucket and 25 percent of your gravel has been cleaned off. When finished, rinse your vacuum with fresh warm water before storing it away with other aquarium supplies. When selecting a bucket to use for this process, be aware that even small amounts of chemical residue could harm your aquarium fish and require special precaution.
Siphoning
A gravel vacuum, available from any pet store, is an effective tool for maintaining the bottom substrate of a fish tank. Push it gently into the substrate, and let the vacuum take its course - any heavier particles such as sand or gravel should fall back down, leaving only lighter particulates to be pulled up into its tube and sucked away by suction. You should combine this method with other tank cleaning strategies such as scrubbing aquarium walls or digging out large debris and mulm from within its confines - but make sure not to disturb its natural cycle by sucking out beneficial bacteria which convert ammonia into less harmful forms - to minimize disruption!
Once your gravel has been thoroughly cleaned, place it into a bucket and rinse with a high-pressure garden hose aimed directly on the ground, not into a drain or sewer pipe. Repeat as necessary until all water above your bucket of gravel has cleared away. When ready to add back into your tank, rinse it once more before pouring directly back in; seal any cracks using silicone before hardening sets in (though resealing may still be necessary later); either use the same silicone type you used before or look specifically tailored towards marine aquarium environments formulated specifically to minimize chlorine contamination of fish tanks.
Cup Washing
Over time, any aquarium will become polluted with dirt deposits from uneaten fish food, feces, decaying plant material, and algae growth. Without regular cleaning of the gravel bed to reduce ammonia levels and protect fish health, ammonia levels could rise rapidly and threaten fish survival; to maintain proper hygiene levels. Regularly cleaning gravel beds is vital in order to keep ammonia under control.
To clean gravel, place it in a bucket and rinse it under running tap water until all bacteria and beneficial organisms living within are inactive. Additionally, it would be wise to use an aquarium-specific bucket, to avoid adding any additional chemicals into your tank.
Once finished rinsing, remove two cupfuls of dirt-laden gravel from your tank. Doing this is critical as chlorine in tap water destroys many beneficial organisms that live within it, helping repopulate it more rapidly in future cleaning sessions. With this method you should be able to quickly and easily clean your gravel in minutes! Plus it provides an alternative to vacuuming! Try making this part of your weekly routine if possible - every few weeks is ideal!
Algae Scraping
A fish tank's gravel acts as its own filter system by housing beneficial bacteria which digest the waste produced by fish and maintain the ideal balance of nitrite and nitrate levels in your aquarium. Therefore, regular cleaning of your gravel is recommended, especially if your aquarium hosts numerous fish species; doing this also prevents diseases like Ich and other parasites that could threaten its inhabitants.
Aquarium hobbyists use either a siphon or algae scraper to clean the gravel in their aquarium tanks. A siphon works by extracting water from the tank, creating a vacuum effect and then discharging its contents into a bucket.
A bucket that has not been used for anything else should be used to store water; any chemical residue can harm your fish according to the Fish Tank Club. You can store any dirty gravel that accumulates in a separate container that has been dedicated solely for fish tank use since you purchased your tank.
An algae scraper is an invaluable time saver. Equipped with razor sharp blades for scraping away soft or hard algae from glass surfaces, as well as a brush attachment for reaching hard-to-reach corners of a fish tank, its use requires you to touch it directly - be careful! This tool should only ever be used as part of an overall maintenance strategy and not used alone!
